May 27, 2009 - 16:24 AMT
Armenia plays stabilizing role in Black Sea region
Armenia plays stabilizing role in Black Sea region, Ara Nranyan, ARFD Advisor on Economic Issues, told a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent. "BSEC has 12 member states, some of them being CIS countries. Being one of South Caucasian states, Armenia plays an important stabilizing role," he said.

In the meantime, Mr. Nranyan finds BSEC the only international organization where all countries (including those having territorial problems) adhere to constructive positions. "It's noteworthy that this is the only organization where Turkey conducts constrictive policy in relation to Armenia," Nranyan said.
Destructive policy, according to ARFD representative, is conducted by Azerbaijan. "This is seen in their attempts to subordinate the organization's objectives to their political goals, something other members states do not approve of," Nranyan noted, adding that the organization's objective was economic cooperation and most problems discussed there concerned regional development issues.

Armenia became BSEC member state in November 2008.

Black Sea Economic Cooperation was established in 1992, with Armenia being one of the founding states. Currently, the organization has 12 member states: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine. BSEC observer states are Austria, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and US.